Gas Station Restrooms

As many of you know, Jared and I travel a lot. Since both of our families live out of state we travel to see them often. When we travel we drive most of the time. (let's face it, even with gas prices being high, it's still cheaper than buying 2 plane tickets.)

Since we've travelled a lot, we've seen some very interesting bathrooms. I could write an entire chapter of a book about bathrooms that we've seen in our day. But today I will just tell you about our most recent bathroom experience.

We stopped at a dodgy looking gas station just outside of Kansas City. I desperately needed to use the restroom (having those refills on my soda at lunch was a mistake in hindsight) So I decided to brave the bathroom. When I got in there I saw this sign above the toilet.


At first I didn't even understand what to do, so then I looked down at the toilet (which conveniently had the lid off, thank you management) and saw this:


So apparently I needed to tip that water tank forward to get the toilet to flush. I just started laughing because, when you need a sign giving step by step instructions on how to flush, and your CUSTOMERS need to put their hand in their innards of the toilet, it's time to call the plumber!

Security System

When Jared and I bought our house we were excited it came with a security system. We didn't want to pay for the monthly monitoring system, but thought it was nice to have the doors and windows all beep when they are opened, so we would know if someone was entering our house. The previous owners didn't leave us the code so we can't do anything with it, but it's nice to know it's there.

Today the power went out for about 5 seconds, but that was enough time to make our security system have a complete melt down. The alarm came on, and we couldn't turn it off. The alarm was LOUD. We could barely hear each other even though we were yelling. I tried everything I could think of with the keypad, nothing worked. Jared tried to go to the fuse box and cut off the power to it. Nothing worked. After about 7 minutes Jared called the company that made the alarm to see if they could help. The conversation went something like this.

Jared:(having to yell into the phone) Hi, my alarm system is going off and I can't turn it off.

Alarm Guy: I'll be happy to help, what's your address?

Jared: (Gave Address)

Alarm Guy: I'm not finding this address in our systems. Is this address currently being monitored?

Jared: No but this is the phone number that is written on the system

Alarm Guy: Well sir since your system is not being monitored at this moment and you are not a customer, we are not able to trouble shoot with you.

Jared: (in a desperate voice) What can I do to become a customer and trouble shoot this problem?

Alarm Guy: We have to send somebody out to your house and you have to sign a contract.

Jared:(starting to panic) There's nothing you can do for me right now?

Alarm Guy: (taking pity on Jared) I would recommend turning off the power supply. It runs on it's own, not the houses.

Jared: Thanks!

We found the system in our master closet. After another few minutes trying to figure out where the power supply was. (and me worrying Jared was going to be electrocuted) we were able to reset the system.

That was definitely enough excitement in our house for the day.

Sweet Caramel

Most people know our dog Caramel. She is a 4 year old beagle. She is very sweet, playful and extremely friendly. She loves to meet new people, and she loves to show everyone how lovable she is.

In addition to being very lovable, Caramel is also very obedient. She sits when we say "sit" she comes when we say "come" she goes into her Kennel when we say "Kennel" and obeys several other commands. There is one thing in this world that makes all of her obedience go out the window, her Orange ball.

Caramel is obsessed with her orange ball. She can't think of anything except her orange ball if it is out. She forgets how to "come" and how to "sit" when the ball is out.

Yesterday Jared and I had been playing with her and the orange ball and because she had behaved herself so well even though the ball was out, we let her keep it for awhile afterwards. Well about an hour after we had finished playing with her, Caramel came up to me while I was sitting next to Jared on the couch. She gave me her "please can I come up and cuddle with you?" look. She knows she can't get up on the couch without being asked. So last night, as an incentive for me, she put her ball in my lap and then nudged it toward me as if to say "mommy, I'll share my ball with you if I can come up and cuddles you." That is hands down the sweetest thing she has ever done.



Here is a video of her with her ball after a long session chasing it.

Basketball Insults

As many people know Jared and I are huge Dallas Mavericks fans. We have season tickets and can be seen at most of the home games each year. The season started a couple of weeks ago, and have already been to three home games.

As much as both of us get into the games, I usually only yell out of delight or surprise at a play. My husband will once in awhile yell insults at players and refs (and one time during the '06 Finals at the commissioner, David Stern) Last night at the Denver Nuggets game he yelled 3 insults that just made me laugh.

1."Ball Don't Lie!" He yelled this after the refs had said that the Mavs had committed a foul against the Nuggets and the free throw was missed. This comment always makes me laugh, because Jared puts faith in the ball to deliver justice when the refs make bad calls.

2. "The refs swallowed their whistles!" I had to laugh when Jared shouted this because it was so true! In the 4th quarter the Nuggets where all over Dirk Nowitzki and fouling him left and right and the refs never once called a foul.

3. "Your wife plays better than you!" This was probably my favorite insult all night. Jared shouted this at Sheldon Williams, the Denver center. He is married to Candace Parker, who is arguably one of the best players in the WNBA. Not sure if Mr. Williams would take this as an insult or a compliment to his wife, but our whole section seemed amused when Jared shouted it.

Foster Parents

By now, if you know Jared and I you know that we have decided to become foster parents. We are towards the end of the process, but still have to go through our homestudy before we are officially licensed.

5 years ago, when we got married, we discussed having kids, and I mentioned that I would like to adopt someday. Jared agreed that was something we could purse someday, and we left it at that. Why not? We weren't even planning on trying to start our family for a few years. 3 years later we did start trying to have kids. Well, it's been a couple of years since then and after many months of research and praying we feel that fostering is the path God wants us on right now. We did discuss fertility treatments (even tried clomid for a couple of months) but felt God pulling us towards adoption. We thought about a regular domestic infant adoption, but felt God once again pull us in a slightly different direction. We landed on Foster to Adopt and knew it was the right choice for us. We know that fostering won't be easy and we aren't going into this blind, but we both feel that it's the right thing for us.

Facebook

Have you noticed how much you can learn about a person's life just by browsing their facebook page? You can find out if someone is in a relationship (usually even if who they're in a relationship with), you can find out what kind of work they do, their political and religious affiliations and much, much more. What I always find the most fun to look at are the photos not only the albums that person has posted but also the ones that are posted of them by others.

Looking at these photos really tells me what is truly going on with this person. Some friends from college are big into travelling, a friend from high school has adopted two adorable boys, another friend has gone on short term missions trips, and I even have a couple friends from church who are missionaries in Romania and their photos are the best way to keep up with them and the beautiful children they are serving there.

Jared has an old friend from high school that I've heard about for several years, I finally got to meet this friend a few weeks ago, and have since "friended" him on facebook. I don't know about anyone else, but when I become friends with someone I have to look at their profile right away (and of course the pictures!) Jared had always told me that this friend was a person of very high integrity and honesty, and he was someone who Jared really respected because he made his faith his own. Well his pictures told another story. Based on everything Jared had told me I was expecting a guy very involved with his church and his family. His photos showed that church and family were the last two things on his mind. I won't get into the specifics of all the photos but this man was definitely not living the Christian life. I was a bit shocked and Jared was way more than shocked.

This got me to thinking, what do people see when they look at my facebook profile. Do they see a girl who loves God? I'm afraid to say I don't think they do. I do love God, but I feel like my everyday actions don't reflect this, let alone my facebook profile. I feel convicted to start really living every moment in praise to God, and not just the moments that I feel completely comfortable doing so. I want to step out of my comfort zone and live for Christ and Him alone.

Update

Wow! It has been over a year since I updated the blog. I always feel like I have to have something that is super exciting or interesting to blog about. I just think no one would want to read about our new office furniture, but I know I shouldn't be so picky So I'm going to try to be better, but no guarantees.